MADISON - Wisconsin is making the most of a historic opportunity to tap into $475 million in federal funding set aside for President Obama's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2010.... Potential applicants voluntarily shared their proposals with DNR. Galarneau and other DNR Great Lakes staff reviewed scores of the applications that groups and governments were planning to submit. The idea was to facilitate the process to avoid duplication and improve coordination of projects, to make sure the grant applications were as strong as possible, and to align projects with the 2009 Wisconsin Great Lakes Strategy finalized last year to carry out in Wisconsin the priorities identified in the national Great Lakes Strategy.
Frank says that such work helped Wisconsin submit grant proposals that will compete. "We've laid the groundwork with our partners so that Wisconsin can carry out the Great Lakes Strategy hammered out with the other Great Lakes states over the last several years," he says.
EPA's grant process called for projects that addressed one or more of the five focus areas including toxic substances and geographic "Areas of Concern" where contaminated sediments remain buried in harbors; invasive species; runoff pollution and the health of near-shore areas; restoration and protection of wildlife and their habitat; and projects calling for monitoring, evaluating and communicating projects funded through the initiative.
